UCLA, Pitt or USC?

[Zhivab]

Hi everyone!

I am writing because I am facing some important doubts and I would really appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

Basically, I got accepted by UCLA about a month ago for studying my MS in Electrical Engineering, to be specific, in Circuits and Embedded Systems. As we all know, UCLA is a top school in the US. On the other hand, I have to say that I do not like the program too much. I applied to this university because I got a recommendation letter from a professor when I studied there during a summer session. Honestly, I did not expect that I was going to get in, because I did not show in my SoP my motivation about Circuits Designing, but I did.

I also got accepted to study at University of Pittsburgh a MS in EE in Power Electronics, field that I like the most. However, Pitt is not as highly ranked as UCLA.

Finally, I am also waiting for my admission decision at USC, a school that competes for the same ranking with UCLA in EE. If accepted, my track would be Power Electronics as well, and I will definitely attend this school. However, I can not keep waiting for an USC response because my deadline to accept/decline Pitt is very close.

So I think you can pretty much guess my concern. I do not know if I should study at UCLA, a top school but a program that I do not feel very motivated about, waiting for USC but risking Pittsburgh, or studying at University of Pittsburgh, a university with a lower ranking than UCLA but where I would study a program that I like more.

Everything would be solved if I get an admission by USC soon but it has been so long since I applied and I really think that I have very small chances of getting in.

Thank you so much for all the answers in advance.

[Rising]

Obviously you are in a very tough position. My field of study is not even remotely connected to what you are interested in, but I would suggest for you to contact Pitt and ask for an extension. Hopefully by the time the new deadline expires, you will have the final decision from USC.

Another thing you can do is contact USC and ask them, if it is possible to speed up the process a bit. For instance, I was admitted to X university and was waiting to hear from Y, but just like in your case, the deadline was quickly approaching, so I contact the department administration at Y and politely explained to them what is the problem. I received their final decision just a day later and a week before everyone else applying to the same program at Y. Once again, I am in a field, which is not even remotely related to yours, but I doubt there's big difference in the admission processes.

[Zhivab]

6 hours ago, Rising said:

Obviously you are in a very tough position. My field of study is not even remotely connected to what you are interested in, but I would suggest for you to contact Pitt and ask for an extension. Hopefully by the time the new deadline expires, you will have the final decision from USC.

Another thing you can do is contact USC and ask them, if it is possible to speed up the process a bit. For instance, I was admitted to X university and was waiting to hear from Y, but just like in your case, the deadline was quickly approaching, so I contact the department administration at Y and politely explained to them what is the problem. I received their final decision just a day later and a week before everyone else applying to the same program at Y. Once again, I am in a field, which is not even remotely related to yours, but I doubt there's big difference in the admission processes.

What about if USC rejects me? Should I choose Pitt over UCLA?

[Rising]

13 hours ago, Zhivab said:

What about if USC rejects me? Should I choose Pitt over UCLA?

Well, this is a choice for you to make. I am in the field of interdisciplinary/social sciences, so in my case rankings do matter... People tend to underestimate them (or overestimate them), however, downplaying the importance of a school's overall reputation is not particularly smart (in my opinion). When previously I mentioned that I was accepted to universities X and Y, I was referring to Oxford and Yale. From the start I have wanted to attend Yale because their program is far superior than Oxford's and Yale is right there up on the top along Harvard in the rankings. So it was a win-win situation for me. I did not have to choose between higher ranking and program fit as you do. As I said, I am not familiar with the trends in your field, however, I would assume that for engineers rankings might not be as important as they are in the field of social sciences for instance. Once again, this is my take on this, I am sure that there are people who would not agree with me. And most importantly, studying is supposed to be fun and it can only be fun, if you like what you study. Same thing as when you work. So.. to answer your question: If I were you I think I would choose Pitt over UCLA.

 

If you like both programs equally and they are slightly different in terms of content, then I would encourage you to go for UCLA, but this is not the case as far as I understand?

Edited May 18, 2016 by Rising

[Zhivab]

Thank you so much for the response

Edited May 18, 2016 by Zhivab